Braxton Brig Research Paper

It's August 31st and the aftermath for the second battle of Bull Run starts now. The confederacy wins a fair match against the union called the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second battle of Manassas). The confederacy wins by general Jackson’s brilliant method for holding the stressful lines until Major general Longstreet comes. Therefore, he was also called “Stonewall” Jackson that day. John Pope, the union general, loses because of his hesitation to attack. General Longstreet marches in along with 25,000 other men to reinforce their counterattack. John Pope doesn't even realize that general Longstreet has arrived until it was too late. The union gets pushed further and further back up against the border of Henry House Hill. The union strongly

The Battle of Chickamauga took place in Northwestern Georgia on September 19th 1863 through the 20th. The Union army was led by General William Rosecrans. The Confederate army was led General Braxton Bragg’s. During the battle the Union came up on the confederate cavalry at the northern end of the war zone. When the day progressed reinforcements came for both sides. That same night the confederate army divides their army into two wings one lead by General James Longstreet and the other by General Leonidas Polk. At this time the Union was commanded by General George Thomas. On September 20th General Polk’s wing attacked Thomas troops. General Rosecrans acted by sending reinforcements. When he sent backup it created a gap in the Union’s line

It was General Bragg’s lack of confidence, previous performances, and relationships with his subordinate commanders that ultimately caused the battle plan to not be executed correctly. Bragg was unable to successfully implement the first principle of mission command: build cohesive teams through mutual trust. He also had a history of not utilizing the sixth principle of mission command: take prudent risk. Bragg’s lack of competence regarding these two mission command principles ultimately set conditions for a poor mission command climate within General Bragg’s unit. Bragg’s sub-commanders, Generals Hindman, Buckner, Polk, Longstreet, and Hill were all skeptical of Bragg’s leadership and battle plans from his previous campaign at Chattanooga, where he retreated from the city. Bragg was well known for retreating at the first Battle of Chattanooga, and also for predictably employing frontal assault offensive tactics. His history of predictable plans, retreats, and inability to take prudent risk, caused his subordinate leaders to lose trust in his ability to plan and lead his army. One of Bragg’s sub-commanders, General Hill, stated

Having been erroneously informed by staff officers that a gap had formed in the Union line facing the Confederates, Rosecrans quickly ordered Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood to take his division and close the gap. But in pulling his force out of its position and moving it to close a gap that didn't exist, Wood opened up a real one.

The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh starts as reinforcements from General Buell’s Army of the Ohio and a unit of Grant’s own reserve division joined the Union Army now positioned at Pittsburg Landing. These reinforcements added over 22,500 men to the Union lines13 bringing the total number of Union forces to over 45,000, which is more than they had on 6 April, the first day of fighting.14 On April 7, General Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counteract.15 Greatly outnumbered (Confederate forces now around 25,000) and disorganized the Confederate forces now under General Beauregard fought hard but eventually had to retreat to back Corinth.16 The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh was won by General Grant and his Union forces due to two main reasons. The first, Union troop numbers greatly outnumbered their enemy, over 45,000 to 25,000 respectively. And secondly, the reinforcements received by General Grant had not fought the day before and were fresh and excited to fight, unlike the exhausted remaining Confederate troops.17 This was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point, with 23,746 casualties (Union: 13,047; Confederate: 10,699).18 The Union lost more men but claimed the victory because the Confederate Army retreated back to Corinth, Mississippi.

The date was December 10th 1864, just a little over three years after the beginning of the civil war, and the Union Army was waiting just outside the city of Savannah. Just 25 days earlier General Sherman and his Union Army had left the city of Atlanta after its seizure and were now poised to try the same thing in Savannah . The only thing standing in their way of completing this task was the formidable Fort McAllister. The Union Army, if it were able to seize the Fort would complete the seizure of the city of Savannah and open up a valuable resupply route to the sea. The man chosen to complete this task was General William Babcock Hazen, commander of the 15th Corps.

Working with Governor Francis Pickens, Union general Major Robert Anderson was a little too ambitious with his plan to attack Fort Sumter. He rushed to put his plan into action, and didn’t allow his men or his partner to prepare for the event properly. Additionally, when his plan began to fail, he refused to surrender. This only made matters work. On the other end, Confederate general, Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard, began moving men and artillery into place to force

Both General Grant and Admiral Foote (Union Naval Commander) worked and planned together on the attacks of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. Incidentally, this campaign marked the first time the Army and Navy conducted a joint operation. The Confederates lacked unity of command. General Buckner, from the onset, felt that Fort Donelson should not be defended and instead advocated attacking the Union outside the fort. Confederate General Pillow (second in command at Fort Donelson) rarely consulted his superior, General Floyd. This was evident on the morning of February 15, when the Confederates attacked the Union on the right flank. By mid-morning, the Union line was in full retreat and the pathway to Nashville was open should the Confederates need to retreat or receive reinforcements. In a decision that left everyone in shock, General Pillow ordered his men to break contact and retreat back to the fort. He did so without conferring with General

After the loss at Manassas, Lincoln looked for another leader to replace McDowell, and some consideration settled on General McClellan. McClellan was at his best when he was organizing armies, not leading them into battle. Lincoln wanted the army to take over eastern Tennessee for political reasons, and McClellan for fairly sound military reasons wanted the same thing. The task was given to General Buell; it did not matter to McClellan that the area was impossible to take from the north, not to mention holding it.

Around noon, Union and Confederate cavalry troops battled three miles east of Gettysburg but Stuart was eventually repulsed by cannon fire led in part by Gen. George Custer and the Union Cavalry. The diversion attempt failed. Back at the main battle site, just after 1 p.m. about 170 Confederate cannons opened fire on the Union position on Cemetery Ridge to pave the way for the Rebel Charge. This was the heaviest artillery barrage of the war. The Federals returned heavy cannon fire and soon the battlefield was covered in smoke and dust. Around 2:30 p.m. the Federals slowed their rate of fire, then stopped firing, to conserve ammunition and to fool the Rebels into thinking the cannons were knocked out-and that's exactly what the Rebels thought too. But as the Rebels got within range, Federal cannons opened fire using grapeshot which is a shell containing iron balls that flew apart when fired, and they also used deadly waves of rifle fire. Soon the Rebel army was torn apart but they still moved forward. Pickett’s charge was almost more after the once majestic army of 13,000 had its numbers of troops dwindle.. The Rebels still move forward, shooting then charging with bayonets. The battle lasted for about an hour mostly of hand-to-hand combat. Finally what was left of Pickett’s charge (5,500) retreated. Lee admitted this was his mistake and the tide of war now turned in the North’s favor. The Union lost (either dead, wounded, or missing) about 23,000, and the Confederates lost about

In September of 1863, the Union army, led by General William Rosecrans, took a loss to the Confederate army, who was led by General Braxton Bragg, at the Battle of Chickamauga (“Battle of Chickamauga”1 ). After the Union decided to retreat to

After the Union’s defeat at Fredericksburg in December of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln once again made a change in the Union Army’s leadership. General Ambrose Burnside was replaced with Major General Joseph Hooker. Hooker and Lincoln both agreed that the key to victory in the war was the destruction of Lee’s Army in a decisive battle (Sears 57-62). Hooker’s plan to accomplish this was to use his 130,000 soldiers and launch a double envelopment of Lee’s 60,000 men still camped at Fredericksburg.

The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when the Southern United States seceded from the union. The first battle, taking only thirty-four hours, caused Lincoln to officially rally troops against the South. Most Northern Americans would eventually learn to love Lincoln’s courage; however, many Southern Americans would despise Lincoln. Throughout the civil war many lives were lost, and many families were torn apart. Lincoln would remain a strong figure throughout the war. He would give his people hope, he would give his people courage, and he would give his people strength. Around the time the Civil War was drawing to a close, Lincoln was being reelected. The general of the Confederacy, Robert E. Lee, surrendered after a battle in Virginia. His troops surrendered in April, a little over a

General Pierre Beauregard, commander of Confederate troops at the Battle of First Bull Run and second-in-command during the Battle of Shiloh, commented that the enemy was given "...the most surprising surprise" but the delays allowed Union reinforcements to take their place on the battlefield beside their comrades and drive the rebels back after two days of fighting. No ground was gained, no strategic town was taken, no supply depot was sacked, but the Union victory did force the evacuation of Confederate troops from much of Tennessee and split the rebel forces along the lines formed by the Mississippi River.

The northern part of the United States and the southern part of the United States separated because they disagreed on each other’s opinion regarding slavery. The Union was against slavery and the Confederacy was supporting slavery for their benefits. The first battle of the Civil War began when the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The Union had surrendered Fort Sumter after 34 hours of intense fighting. Lincoln then decided that the army should move against the Confederacy near Bull Run. The Confederacy once again destroyed the Union. Lincoln wanted to switch out McClellan with General John Pope who had won several wars in the West before. Unfortunately Pope was more boastful than resourceful, and General Lee quickly defeated the Union in the second Battle of Bull Run. After that defeat, Lincoln quickly reinstated McClellan as commander of the Union